Peels Steamed Off Potatoes

January 22, 1986|By Sonja Heinze, Special to the News and Sun-Sentinel

Q. There must be billions of pounds of potatoes used every year for french fries. I was wondering how McDonald`s gets the peel off. Someone told me the peel is soaked off with chemicals. What chemicals are used? Also, what is done with all the peel?

A. Beth Petersohn, a representative of McDonald`s, said that when these restaurants started 29 years ago, the fries were cut right on the premises. As business grew, changes were made.

Now the potatoes are processed somewhere else and transported frozen to each franchise. Petersohn stated that 80 percent of the peels are removed by a pressurized steam process, while 20 percent are loosened by a ``harmless caustic solution.``

When I asked Petersohn what this chemical was, she replied, ``I found out (after further investigation) that all of our potatoes are now peeled by a steam process and there is no longer any caustic solution used.``

After the potatoes are softened by pressurized steam, they bounce around on a rolling belt which further loosens the peels. Scrubbers and brushers finally remove what peel remains.

The peels are used as cattle feed.

Q. I have a question about soda water. Someone I know who is sexually active uses it as a douche to prevent pregnancy. She is against pills and claims this is a natural contraceptive. Does it work?

A. This practice ``is not merely worthless,`` states Carol Ann Rinzler in the book Strictly Female, but ``is downright dangerous.``

Rinzler explains what could happen: ``The soda is aerated; it contains oxygen and carbon dioxide. It enters the vagina under pressure, which means that it may rise through the cervix into the uterus, which is lined with tiny open blood vessels. Theoretically, any oxygen or carbon dioxide that enters these blood vessels could send a deadly air embolism through the bloodstream.``

Advise your friend to stop this practice at once.

Q. Just about every time I buy romaine lettuce, there are large rust spots on the stalks of the leaves. My friend says this is caused by a deficiency in the soil. Is that right?

A. Paul Vossen, a farm adviser with the University of California`s cooperative extension, tells us that rust spots, also known as russet spotting, occurs on all kinds of lettuce, not only romaine. It happens after harvest and is caused by an accumulation of ethylene. Ethylene is a gas that plants emit after they are picked. Lettuce is often stored and transported with other fruits and vegetables that give off ethylene, and this causes the rusting.

At a White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health, experts asked U.S. Department of Agriculture experts about the state of American soil. They reported that they kept close tabs on our soils, as did agriculture colleges and state agricultural services. None knew of such depleted soil being farmed, adding that such worries were scientific impossibilities.